MINDEN, La. (AP) - Webster Parish schools will no longer be operating under federal court oversight. The Minden Press-Herald reports (https://bit.ly/1iSiHvC ) a U.S. District Court judge in Shreveport issued the ruling this week.
In a brief, one-page judgment, Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. wrote the Webster Parish School Board, “…has in fact eliminated the vestiges of past discrimination in all areas of operation such that further supervision by this Court is no longer warranted.”
“It’s like a dog chasing a car; once you catch it what are you going to do with it?” said Jerry Lott, former Webster superintendent of schools and current member of the parish school board on the system’s newly granted unitary status.
“I believe it’s a blessing for our parish, kids and our future,” Lott continued. “It’s a simple issue. We will operate with decisions of 12 duly elected members; it takes the federal government from looking over our shoulder. We’re going to have to fly with our own wings.”
According to Judge Hicks’ ruling, Webster Parish has fulfilled requirements in a 1968 Supreme Court case which further enforced school desegregation as set forth in the landmark 1954 Brown v Board of Education decree.
“This ruling now places responsibility for decisions squarely on the board rather than having the board be an interpreter of rules placed by a higher authority,” board president Charles Strong said. “It’s a new day. We’re on our own as we ought to be … we need to make the right decisions for the right reasons.”
Current Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dan Rawls said he’s been in education since 1972 and has never worked in a school system that was not under a court order. The court decision granting Webster unitary status will mean drawing on past experience for a new way of conducting business, he added.
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Information from: Minden Press-Herald, https://www.press-herald.com/
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